“A Few days later this young son packed all his belongings and moved to a
distant land, and there he wasted all his money in wild living.”
Luke  15:13  NLT

“No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.” Aesop

The January 30 edition of the Wall Street Journal featured a story displaying the headline, “Lifestyles Of The Rich And Stranded.”

Earlier in that month, unprecedented arctic weather caused thousands of flight cancellations, resulting in the stranding of millions of travelers. Millions of people with plans which needed to be altered or cancelled altogether; visits to loved ones that were delayed; business trips requiring rescheduling, and so on. Life is sometimes inconvenient and most of us understand and accept it.

Not so for the rich. The paper’s story highlighted the ‘plight’ of one Debbie Grazioso and her husband. They were trying to take a JetBlue flight from Florida to New York on January 6 when their flight was cancelled due to inclement weather conditions. They were informed they would have to wait four days for a flight to their destination.

According to the story, twin daughters awaited Ms. Grazioso’s arrival, who was flying there to celebrate their 25th birthday and attend a scheduled party. Missing the flight would mean missing the party, and that was unacceptable to the mother who was able to ‘hitch a ride’ with another family on a seven seat private jet for $9,000. Mom was quoted as saying, “It was well worth it. You can never get a birthday back.”

True, Ms. Grazioso, you can never get them back. Not even the ones where an opportunity to impart a beautiful lesson and example to one’s children is missed. What a beautiful birthday could have been had if the mother had taken a lesson from Madison Roy of Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

You remember her: The young lady who quietly went about planning a special birthday while Justin Bieber went about demonstrating his immaturity and disregard for others; the young lady who displayed a generous and humble spirit when she “gave up” her birthday gifts to collect much needed items for the Bishop Ott Center For Women And Children in Baton Rouge; the same young lady who showed the spoiled little rich pr…er….person (I have to stop doing that) who the REAL superstar is; the same young lady who seem genuinely surprised and confused that people would be so touched by her selflessness they would still give her a birthday gift, in addition to the items they brought to donate to the Center.

If only Ms. Grazioso had heard about Madison’s birthday. What a beautiful gift she could have bestowed upon her daughters, herself, Madison, and women and children in need, if she had called her daughters and said, “I can get a flight on a private jet for $9000 and make it to your party……But I’m not going to do that. Instead, I am sending the money to Madison Roy in Baton Rouge, Louisiana to buy much needed items for the Bishop Ott Center For Women And Children, and I am giving it in your names. We’ll “Skype” for free during the party and I’ll give you a hug in person as soon as JetBlue gets us a flight.”

Now THAT would have been a birthday WORTH remembering!

While the super-rich and the super spoiled get all of the media coverage for doing nothing more than exhibiting selfishness and bad judgment, Madison Roy shows us all that she is truly a Silent Superstar!

Thanks again, Madison, for teaching us all how to be better children of God.